Nice looking pies. I recently purchased two 12x12x1/4 A36 steel plates. Only have he change to use them a couple of times, but the results were much better than the cast iron pizza pan I had been using.

scott123

Let me guess, you're back to using the broiler during the bake, correct? It looks, from the previous bake, that convection can't quite cut it on it's own. It's a solid looking pie and the undercrust is very pretty, but the top, on the previous convection only bake, as I'm sure you noticed, is a bit anemic.

I wouldn't completely give up on convection only baking. There may be a shelf where the convection impacts the top a bit more. Did the fan stay on the whole time?

If you like the ease of not having to fuss with the broiler during the bake, there's one more option to supplement the convection and brown the top a bit faster. Ceramic tiles. Get some 1/4" tiles from Home Depot and arrange them on a shelf 4" above the plate. Any tile will do. Since it won't be contacting food, it can be glazed. Fill almost the whole shelf, but leave a gap on all sides for air flow. Between the slight bump in top heat you get from the tiles, along with the convection feature, I think the top should brown just as fast as the bottom.

I had a friend over so I went with the tried & true broil. I have one more test that I want to do with the convection before I give up on it. I'm going to move the steel and stone closer together bit still in the fan area to see if it will help with the evenness using convection.

If you like the ease of not having to fuss with the broiler during the bake, there's one more option to supplement the convection and brown the top a bit faster. Ceramic tiles. Get some 1/4" tiles from Home Depot and arrange them on a shelf 4" above the plate. Any tile will do. Since it won't be contacting food, it can be glazed. Fill almost the whole shelf, but leave a gap on all sides for air flow. Between the slight bump in top heat you get from the tiles, along with the convection feature, I think the top should brown just as fast as the bottom.

Scott - I have been using an empty blue steel pan about 4 inches above the pie. Do you think the ceramic tiles would be a better solution? Which material is best for this scenario?

Scott - my fibrament is larger than the steel, do you think I need to cover the entire shelf above the steel? or do you think just the stone larger than the steel will be enough. I have quarry tiles that I use on the grill, I'll bring them in.

scott123

Scott - I have been using an empty blue steel pan about 4 inches above the pie. Do you think the ceramic tiles would be a better solution? Which material is best for this scenario?

John, assuming that you've still got your Wolf oven and are using it's convection feature, your question brings us into an interesting theoretical realm- specifically, thermal mass and it's impact on radiation. This isn't like one of those cheap, relatively worthless, single ply steel domed ovens with no insulation, where it's practically impossible to maintain a dome temp for producing fast bakes. There's no insulation above your pan, but, thanks to your convection fan, the pan is enveloped in flowing hot air and should be at or near the peak temp of the oven. My gut feeling is that as you open the oven to load the pie, even for a short time, the blue steel pan will most likely drop a tiny bit further in temp than 1/4" tiles and this might impact top browning. Maybe. Tiles are inexpensive, and, unlike the elusive quarry tiles, regular glazed tiles are easily found so my suggestion is to give it a try.

Although I wasn't specific with Deb before regarding color, your mention of blue steel reminded me of the importance of a black glaze, since darker colors are better emitters.

Scott - my fibrament is larger than the steel, do you think I need to cover the entire shelf above the steel?

Deb, a stone and/or tiles that are larger than the steel plate is great. Since you've got a 14 x 16 plate, then a I'd say a 16 x 20 ceiling, or even 15 x 17 ceiling would work nicely. I would make sure you've got an extra .5" on all sides, though.

As far as the fibrament goes, though, the size is fine, but the thickness, unfortunately, is not. Some thermal mass might be a good thing (see above), but we can definitely have too much- and a .75" fibrament is too much. Anything you put in an oven will absorb heat. The steel can be fully pre-heated in half an hour, but the fibrament might not be fully pre-heated for another 45 minutes past that. 1/4" tiles aren't going to absorb that many joules, but I wouldn't go thicker than that, and, like I told John above, buy tiles with a black glaze, if possible.

thanks Scott, I figured as much on the fibrament. I'm still going to try it closer to the stone but it would be nice to figure out a quicker preheat.

I want John's wolf oven. My friend has one and I baked a few pizzas using a screen it it, I was amazed at the difference from my regular gas oven. I can only imagine what could comeo out of it using a stone or steel

Scott - thanks, yes, a little thinner but not the TF you would recommend, for ww I'm going back to .10, thinner doesn't do it for me for ww..... next bake will be a scott123 special - spring king, whole milk mozz, even thinner and i'm going to try the convection only again

scott123

Deb, I know we talked about moving the stone around to try to get the most out of convection, but, theoretically speaking, with the fan circulating air through the entire oven, there should be no area that's hotter or colder. That's one of the benefits of convection baking.

Try putting the steel 5-7" from the broiler (if it isn't already) and do one bake with convection and one with broil.

Deb, I know we talked about moving the stone around to try to get the most out of convection, but, theoretically speaking, with the fan circulating air through the entire oven, there should be no area that's hotter or colder. That's one of the benefits of convection baking.

Try putting the steel 5-7" from the broiler (if it isn't already) and do one bake with convection and one with broil.